Grizzlies Trade for Zach Randolph, Continue War on Fans

OK, sure. They traded their franchise player a year and a half ago for Kwame Brown and some Skittles. And yes, with the No. 2 pick they managed to select the only basketball player available who's biggest weakness is his ability to put the little ball in the big circle with the net attached (which I hear is kind of important). But hey, they needed to rebuild, and they rebuilt. But they have tons of cap space now, so much in fact, that they're actually under the CBA limit and have to spend some.

So they've stopped torturing their fans with one terrible decision after another right? Right? Guys? Anybody?

Oh, hi Zach Randolph. What are you ... doing ... here ...?

Oh, no.

OK, so it could be worse. The Grizzlies did need a low post scorer very badly, and God knows Hasheem Thabeet won't be filling that role. And while Randolph's still got $33 million over two years left on his contract, the Grizzlies have the space to add Randolph and still offer significant extensions and add free agents over the next two years.

But then again ...

Zach Randolph?

We're talking about a free-agency period with limited expectations, that happens to be heavy on power forwards. Paul Millsap. Brandon Bass. Charlie Villanueva, until the Pistons snatched him up. There were options to be had, for less than $33 million over two years. That kind of money could have gotten you a younger, more efficient power forward without the locker room issues, conditioning issues, off-the-court issues, and being-Zach-Randolph issues.

They traded Pau Gasol, pardon me, now-world-champion Pau Gasol, because he had a big huge contract and was older and they wanted to start over. So they went out and got Zach Randolph, who's contract is eerily similar to Gasol's. Because, you know, that makes sense. What you really want when you're rebuilding and looking to the future is to pay for multiple years on a locker room cancer with questionable work ethic who's contract expires the year after the best free agency period in history. Yeah, that.

As Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog said on Truehoop, L.A. found a sucker, and can now let Blake Griffin riot down low to his heart's content, and add pieces next year. This move may signal more, though. This may have been the official passing of the torch by the Clippers to Memphis for "Worst Franchise In The NBA."

Ye gods.